Online Retailing

Loehmann’s coming back, but just online

New York--Defunct discount chain Loehmann’s is slated to return to the retail scene next month but as an e-tailer only.

The office of CAK Entertainment Inc., a brand development firm headed by Charles Koppelman, confirmed to National Jeweler Tuesday that it’s working with Esopus Creek Value Series Fund LP to resurrect the Loehmann’s name.

The retailer’s e-commerce site is slated to launch next month. While its exact URL has not yet been revealed, the site will remain focused on selling well-known brands at deeply discounted prices just as Loehmann’s stores, which numbered 40 in 11 states at the time it went out of business, did.

Esopus Creek is the hedge fund that acquired Loehmann’s intellectual property and customer lists at a bankruptcy court auction after Loehmann’s filed Chapter 11. It hired CAK Entertainment to help with the website launch and bringing back the brand.

Koppelman could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Bronx, N.Y.-based Loehmann’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December, its third bankruptcy filing. The chain’s assets were sold off in early January and it liquidated in February.

Started by Frieda Loehmann in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1921, Loehmann’s sold designer fashions, including fine jewelry and watches, at discount prices. Jewelry and watch brands carried by the department store chain included Bulgari, Baume & Mercier, Charriol, Raymond Weil and Scott Kay.